.gamma.-Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3 magnetic pigments have coercivity values of up to about 31 kA/m while ferrite magnetic pigments have coercivity values of up to about 35 kA/m. Magnetic pigments with much higher coercivity field strengths are increasingly being used for magnetic signal recording in audio, video and data storage systems to obtain higher storage densities. Various methods are known for increasing the coercivity field strengths of magnetic iron oxides.
According to German No. 2,903,593, pigments with higher coercivity values are obtained from .alpha.-FeOOH precursor compounds doped with cobalt. A coercivity field strength of about 620 Oe may be obtained with 1% cobalt and an FeO content of 20%. The disadvantage of these pigments lies in their low printing attenuation, insufficient magnetic stability and high degree of dependence of the coercivity on the temperature.
Another method of obtaining high coercivity field strengths has been described in German No. 2,235,383, in which a layer of cobalt ferrite is crystallized epitactically on a core of magnetic iron oxide in a strongly alkaline medium. These pigments have better values of printing attenuation and megnetic stability than the cobalt doped pigments but they are not entirely satisfactory in their control panel distribution, the temperature dependence of their coercivity, the cross-field stability and the long term ratio of erasure obtainable in tapes.
Methods for the preparation of magnetic iron oxide pigments with improved magnetostatic properties have been described in German No. 2,036,612, German No. 2,243,231, German No. 2,410,517 and German No. 2,289,344. In all these methods, a cobalt compound, generally cobalt hydroxide, is precipitated on the surface of the iron oxide core. Cobalt is subsequently enabled to diffuse into the zones of the core material near the surface by suitable measures.
Processes in which cobalt compounds and iron-(II) compounds are separately precipitated in several layers on the core of iron oxide pigments to improve the magnetostatic properties are described in German No. 3,520,210 and German No. 3,344,299.
Although some of the pigment properties can be improved by employing these methods, all the pigments obtained have the disadvantage of a relatively high cross-field instability and high temperature dependence of the coercivity. Iron oxide magnetic pigments with relatively low temperature dependence of the coercivity have been described in German Patent Specifications 2,650,890 and 2,639,250 but the pigments mentioned there have insufficient coercivity to be suitable for the production of video or audio tapes (operating point II).
The problem therefore still existed of finding a magnetic iron oxide pigment which would have sufficiently high coercivity values for the production of audio and video tapes as well as good magnetostatic properties with the coercivity largely independent of cross fields and changes in temperature as well as satisfactory values for printing attenuation.